When Nothing Else Matters
by steph84
Summary: When Shawn Michaels is injured for the final time, how will his best friend deal with it?
1. The Final Time

A/N: I do not own any of these characters, with the exception of Angel. I know this story is a little morbid and I never wish this to happen. But I got to thinking after watching Raw on November 25th. It broke my heart to see what had happened to Shawn and I started to let my imagination run. Please, don't take this story the wrong way; I love Shawn as much as any of his fans do. This is strictly fiction.  
  
Her mouth gaped in horror at what she was witnessing on the television screen. Shock settled in as she watched Shawn Michaels being carried out of the ring on a stretcher. It was his back. Again. She knew that Triple H was supposed to slam Shawn on his back over the seat of a metal folding chair. It was in the script. She had approved it. But what wasn't scripted was the way that Shawn fell. He had fallen on the most fragile part of his back and now, only seven minutes after Raw had gone off the air, she watched in dismay as they carried Shawn's body off the ring on a stretcher.  
  
Grabbing her jacket, she rushed to meet the ambulance before it left the parking lot. But she missed it by seconds, meeting Hunter in the lot.  
  
"Hunter, are you okay?" she asked, breathlessly. He shook his head, unable to speak. He didn't have to. She could practically read his mind. Quickly, she grabbed his arm and led him towards her car, which was parked in the back of the parking lot. It took her several tries to succeed in putting the keys in the ignition. Tears clouded her vision as she backed out of the spot and drove towards the hospital, Hunter in the seat beside her.  
  
The highway was empty. South Carolina had always held a special place in her heart. It was where she had met her first sweetheart. He was a great guy in the beginning but turned out to be an alcoholic idiot after that. She had just gotten over him when Brad came along. Brad was a charmer on the outside but an abuser on the inside. She escaped out of that relationship with only a black eye.  
  
She was beginning to think that there were no good guys in the universe when she met Shawn Michaels. She had been working for the WWE- then the WWF-for only two months as the secretary of the creative writing team when Shawn Michaels debuted in the company. He was a really sweet guy. Taking her time with him, they established an incredible friendship that then led into the best relationship she had ever had. Shawn was gentle with her, unlike the other men she had been with. He was caring, concerned and loving, which was a sudden change for her system. "No wonder why you're parents named you Angel," he would often say to her. "You're my own angel." It was nice to have such a doting guy, and a wrestler, to protect you.  
  
They broke up only weeks ago. It just became too much for the both of them. But they promised to remain friends. "Just because we can't hack it in a relationship anymore doesn't mean we can't be friends." His words were cheerful, but behind them lurked the dangers of sadness. Angel knew the reason why they broke up. They had been together for many, many, many years, but marriage never became an issue to Angel. Not until Shawn had brought it up.  
  
"It's not that I'm afraid of marriage," she told him. "I'm just not ready for it." She knew this broke his heart, but she insisted that marriage remain out of the question.  
  
"Angel? Angel, we're here." The sound of Hunter's voice brought her back to reality. She jumped out of the car, which she had managed to manoeuvre to the hospital, and followed the ambulance attendants to the door.  
  
"I always hated hospitals," she whispered to Hunter once inside. "They remind me of death."  
  
Hunter nodded. "I agree. I used to avoid them at all possible times. Same reasoning." He smiled at her. "But we're not here for death. Shawn will be just fine, Angel. You'll see."  
  
She smiled back, but inside she was falling apart. The last time Shawn hurt his back, doctors warned him that he couldn't do it again. "Your spine is dangerously close to be broken permanently," they said. "You can't do this again. It could get more and more serious!" But everyone knew that Shawn Michaels was a man of extremes. He wouldn't let that stop him.  
  
Hunter spoke to the nurses while Angel greeted all the others who had come down to see what was happening. Vince headlined the crew, taking Angel's hands in his. "He'll be fine," he whispered to her. Once again that sinking feeling rose into her stomach. She didn't like it but pretended it wasn't happening.  
  
Hunter flopped into the chair beside her. "He's in surgery now," he said quietly, rubbing his face with exhaustion. "They'll let us know how he is when he comes out."  
  
"His back.is it bad?"  
  
"It's not good," Hunter replied, feeling a little cranky. "I can't believe I did this to him."  
  
Angel held his hand. "You didn't. It wasn't your fault, nor was it his fault." Hunter just shook his head.  
  
The next ninety minutes seemed to pass like an eternity. Every time a doctor entered the waiting room, heads would swivel upwards in anticipation. If it wasn't such a serious time, Angel would have burst out laughing. She passed the time by braiding her long brown hair, concentrating critically on each and every strand to keep her occupied.  
  
Suddenly the door opened to reveal the doctor all the wrestlers had come to know and love in this state: Dr. Keegan Monroe. He was the only doctor in South Carolina that the wrestlers of the WWE trusted most. He had worked on Shawn when he first hurt his back and Angel knew him well.  
  
His face was filled with concern. His eyes were worrisome, as if he had been worrying for hours. Angel immediately felt her heart lurch into her throat. She knew that bad news was about to be delivered, but tried to push the feeling down into the bottom of her soul, hoping that she was wrong.  
  
"Angel," he said, his voice breaking. Instinctively she grabbed Hunter's hand and Vince stood up, walking towards the doctor.  
  
"Keegan, what's wrong? What happened?" Angel smiled, recalling all the other times Vince had stood up for her. He was like the father she never had.  
  
"I'm sorry, guys," Dr. Monroe started out. Tears filled Angel's eyes and streamed down her face as the doctor explained how Shawn's heart gave out during surgery. "There were just too many complications," he said, teardrops rolling down his cheeks. "I'm really sorry; I tried the best I could."  
  
Angel felt as if her world had turned to stone. Shawn was dead. Nothing else mattered now. 


	2. You're What?

Angel took a deep breath. Running her hand through her hair again, she started up the car and gripped the steering wheel tightly. Vince had offered to drive her and Hunter home but she felt she needed time with Hunter, alone, to be in comforting silence.  
  
The car drifted into traffic swiftly and Angel tried to keep her eyes dry on the road. But strangely, she felt nothing. No tears were pressuring to fall, no pains behind her eyes. She was oddly numb to the actions going on around her.  
  
"Angel? Are you okay?" Hunter's voice was calm and cool, but she could sense the anger and frustration building up behind his words. She nodded quickly, still feeling nothing. Sometimes feeling dead inside was better than opening up to the world around you.  
  
The drive back to the hotel was filled with uninterrupted quiet and silent questions. Angel prepared herself for the flood of questions and caring looks when they arrived. But as she parked the car in the underground lot and they entered the hotel lobby, there was no one there to greet them. Sharing a glance, they made their way up to their rooms, without even saying goodnight to each other.  
  
Once inside the peacefulness of her room, Angel felt the stinging realization of what had just happened begin to settle its place in her heart. She fell on the bed, her body tensing in a reaction to the tears that suddenly flowed down her cheeks. Her tiny body was wracked with sobs as she reflected on all the times that her and Shawn had shared and how they would never happen again. She remembered the first time they had met and how he helped her grasp the concept of reality and get over the horrible relationships she had been in. She reminisced about the first moment when she knew that she had fallen in love with the Heartbreak Kid. And she thought about all the other times that she knew she had the best friend in the world.  
  
"Angel? Are you okay?" Vince's voice was unsteady and Angel knew that he, too, had been crying uncontrollably. "Can I come in? Or do you want to be alone?"  
  
"No, no. It's okay. Come on in." Angel sat up and tried to dry her eyes before her boss entered the room. He came in and his appearance startled her. Vince McMahon had always been a great giant of grace. No matter what the situation was or how it led him, he always managed to walk tall and speak with the voice of a thousand men. But that day, he had a less-than-menacing look to him. He resembled a little old, frail man whom couldn't handle much more. Angel knew the feeling.  
  
Sitting on the bed beside her, he said nothing; he only held his arms out to the girl who needed a friend at that moment. Falling into his embrace, Angel once again let the tears consume her soul as she listened to Vince's sobs above her head.  
  
The next three days were hard. The entire WWE Corporation flew to San Antonio, Texas, for the funeral. Since most of Shawn's family still resided in San Antonio, they felt it was necessary to have the funeral in his hometown.  
  
Shawn's mother offered for Angel to stay at her house, considering how close her and Shawn were. Angel accepted, nervous about being in the house that Shawn grew up in. She wondered how it would affect her. But she found it nothing but comforting to sit in the same room that Shawn sat in night after night. To sleep in the same bed that he slept in was a little sad, but Angel also managed to find the comfort in it.  
  
The day of the funeral, Angel found herself looking in the same full- length mirror that Shawn had looked in every day of his childhood, trying to sort out her dress. It was a simple black gown that Vince's wife, Linda, had assisted her in choosing. It wasn't anything special, but at that moment, fashion wasn't the main thing on Angel's mind. For a moment, she sat down on the bed, reflecting on when she first met Shawn. She had come a long way since then. When she first started out, she was the secretary of the WWF writing team. Now she was the head of the writing team. Writing had always been her dream. Shawn helped her realize her talent and she only continued to write to please him. He was so impressed with her stories that he quickly became her personal sounding board. She loved him even more for showing such an interest in her work and pursuits.  
  
The day was dreary. Not exactly rainy, but close enough. Angel felt that it suited the day perfectly. She wasn't ready to say goodbye to her best friend yet. She still had some unfinished business to take care of. But when would she find the time? At the wake would have been the perfect time, but Angel felt so weak in the knees when she saw Shawn-strong Shawn- lying there in the casket, that she felt she couldn't even stand.  
  
"Hey you. How's it going?" Hunter entered the room from behind her. He had promised himself he would remain steady for Angel, but the look on her face made him want to curl up and cry.  
  
Angel screwed her face up. "Okay. This dress looks like crap on me. I look like a whale."  
  
Hunter laughed gently. "No, you don't."  
  
"I do, too! And pretty soon I'll be as big as one."  
  
Hunter's face contorted to confusion. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Angel swallowed. "Remember that night a few weeks ago? The one where all of us went out to that bar and drank ourselves silly?"  
  
"The night that Shawn came back after Summerslam? Yeah, I remember, why?"  
  
"Well, that night, Shawn and I shared a hotel room."  
  
"Lots of us shared hotel rooms that night, Angel. What are you getting at?"  
  
Angel sighed deeply. "Well, that night one thing led to another and another and another."  
  
"Get on with it, Angel."  
  
"I'm pregnant. With Shawn's baby." 


End file.
